O'Leary: Many things learned this year at Tour de France

If you've been following along for the past two weeks, you've probably learned a thing or two about the Tour de France.

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Posted Jul. 18, 2014 at 2:00 AM

Posted Jul. 18, 2014 at 2:00 AM

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If you've been following along for the past two weeks, you've probably learned a thing or two about the Tour de France.

The crowds are really big, and at times, senseless, like those who wander into the streets for photos, or worse — let their unleashed dogs wander aimlessly into a herd of charging racers.

There's foreign obstacles and unhinged weather. There's wild, high-speed crashes and broken bones. Peeling back the layers, now that all those doping scandals have seemed to pass, you can find truly inspiring stories of guys putting their body through the ringer, all in an effort to cover 3,600 kilometers over three weeks with two rest days.

That's what most of us New Englanders have learned from afar while following the Tour and Exeter native Ted King.

Here's something you probably didn't know about Le Tour of 2014.

Cannondale, the Italian-based team that King rides for as a domestique, collaborated with British artist Death Spray to create animal-themed paint jobs for all nine starters in this year's Tour. Some have been the talk of the race, like superstar Peter Sagan, whose Wolverine theme is outdone by his Hugh-Jackman-esque hairdo.

King, who resided in Brentwood and graduated from Exeter High School, wanted something closer to his New England roots. He toyed with the idea of the Maine lobster before settling on the Grizzly Bear. It just seemed to fit his nickname, Teddy, and it also coincided with his love to eat salmon.

So thus created King's alter ego for this year's Tour, his second shot at making the famed finish in Paris. It turned out to be pretty fitting, too. Through 14 career stages in the Tour de France, King's ride has been anything but pleasant and spry. It's been crash- and bandage-ridden, marred by pain and personal disappointment.

Grizzled, indeed.

Last year, it was a separated shoulder and fractured scapula that cut King's ride short. This time, it was two violent collisions with the pavement in the event's first week, leaving him peddling on with enough pain that a decent night's sleep was out of the question. Later, there was the ill-timed respiratory infection that made regular breathing a chore.

It all added up to a reluctant decision. King was in no shape to complete the Tour's most difficult 161 kilometers in the mountains. He tested the waters and ultimately withdrew, ending what has been a determined, 12-month journey to set the record straight on his own personal Tour story. Much like a year ago, he leaves France with his mind spinning and his mission incomplete.

Followers like myself are feeling his pain. The remaining 10 or so stages of the Tour de France just got immensely less interesting.

King's 10 days in the Tour were great theater, from his tweets about the crazed crowds in England to his constant blog updates, each penned in his humorously unique and witty style. It's wild to flip on the TV and see a New-Hampshire-born guy pulling a peloton full of the world's greatest riders.

Even better, that New-Hampshire-born guy was a three-sport athlete at Exeter, and his persona reflects everything the Blue Hawks are all about. He's humble and competitive. He's driven toward a common goal. He's tough as nails.

King has lived the Tour de France and all its fury. The lingering question now, in a sport where nothing is ever guaranteed, is whether he'll be back in 2015 to take another shot at surviving it.

He left us with this in a Tuesday morning blog post (iamtedking,com), one adorned with a photo of his grizzly-bear fashioned racing bike, gleaming and immaculate.

"The support has been incredible already," King wrote just hours after his Tour exit. "Comments, texts, and phone calls truly mean the world to me. I'll be back. I just might have to eat a lobster to restore some morale in the coming days."

King will be back, and we'll all be looking forward to Chapter III, his next unpredictable adventure through France.

Ryan O'Leary is a Seacoast Media Group staff writer. He can be reached at roleary@seacoastonline.com. Follow Ryan on Twitter @RyanOLearySMG.